The Natchez Trace Parkway preserves the course of the Natchez Trace, a major route of early America that grew from wild animal and Indian trails into a wilderness road linking the Old Southwest with the rest of the nation. In the eighteenth century, Indians and French explorers traveled these trails, and in 1800 the United States Government authorized a post road between Natchez and Nashville, after which the old paths were greatly improved. The road became part of the folklore of the old Southwest after the triumphant end of the War of 1812 at New Orleans in 1815 and the homeward march of Gen. Jackson’s soldiers over it. The region adjoining the parkway was home to the Choctaw from the sixteenth century until the 1830's; in 1800 about 20,000 lived in present-day Mississippi, and under Pushmataha, the greatest of the Choctaw chiefs, they refused to join anti-American alliances and were never at war with the Americans. In 1801 the Choctaw permitted the United States to open the Natchez Trace through their lands, and from 1800 to 1830 they played important roles in the development of this pioneer highway by establishing inns along the route, carving farms from the wilderness, and making progress in self-government while beginning to accept white ways of living. Although the Choctaw claimed most of present-day Mississippi, by 1830 they had ceded all this territory to the United States; after that, the tribe moved to Oklahoma, though some remained in Mississippi, where their descendants still live. Along the parkway are places including Jackson Falls, Little Mountain, Emerald Mound, and a crafts center, reflecting the landscape, archeological importance, and regional handicraft traditions associated with the route.